What the doctor ordered
Duquesne’s med school could make big difference
Duquesne University’s plans to open a school of osteopathic medicine will be a boon for a country facing a shortage of doctors.
But the school’ s impact shouldn’t be measured simply by the number of graduates it produces. Just as important will be the places those doctors choose to practice; how well the school trains its students to work with other kinds of health professionals, such as physician assistants and nurse practitioners; and the extent to which the school embraces the latest trends in research, medical education and bedside care.
One new medical school can’t cure the nation’s shortage of physicians, which the Association of American Medical Colleges estimates could top 121,900 by 2032.
Morehouse College in Atlanta, Ga., established a medical school in 1975 because of that state’s pressing shortage of doctors, especially in rural areas. Forty- five years later, the state struggles with the same issues, with some counties entirely bereft of primary care doctors and certain specialists. Similar shortages affect other parts of the country, including Pennsylvania, because of population shifts, an aging patient demographic, a wave of physician retirement sand younger doctors’ demand for worklife balance.
Duquesne’s medical school, expected to admit its first class in 2023, can deliver maximum impact if its doctors- in- training learn to work hand in hand with the other health professionals who play an increasingly important role in care delivery. Many of those other professionals — physician assistants, nurses, pharmacists and physical therapists — also get their degrees at Duquesne, so a high level of collaboration is feasible.
Interdisciplinary exposure is one feature, among many others, that could set Duquesne’s program apart from the traditionally freestanding school of osteopathic medicine. In its five- year strategic plan, rolled out last year, Duquesne proposed the creation of a “simulation hospital” where students from various disciplines would work together. Medical students would fit right in.
Duquesne should do all that it can to encourage its students to practice — if only for a few years — in rural or poor counties that struggle to
attract doctors. Duquesne’s Jesuit mission and its location on the doorstep of Appalachia are two reasons to make this an imperative. Duquesne’s commitment to underserved areas, as outlined in the strategic plan, and its long dedication to the study of health care ethics are two more reasons.
The federal government offers tuition assistance to medical students who commit to working in disadvantaged areas. But Duquesne should explore other means of interesting students in this important work, such as exposing each one to clinical experience in a rural or poor area. The medical school also should thoroughly familiarize students with telemedicine so that graduates who choose to practice in big cities still have a means of reaching those in remote areas.
About six years ago, the American Medical Association launched a re- envisioning of medical school education. Thirty- seven medical schools, including the University of Pittsburgh’s, have joined the initiative. Duquesne officials should incorporate the project’s many good ideas — such as the concept of doctors functioning less as individual practitioners than as leaders of health care teams — into the new medical school’s curriculum.
Duquesne’s entry into medical school education is cause for celebration in a city that’s long been a leader in health care. If properly executed, the new institution can have an influence that well exceeds the number of doctors it graduates each year.